The Football Association of Ireland has signed an official betting partnership with fellow Sport for Business member Bragbet.
The deal covers on and offline promotion with the FAI and the Irish national team, the first evidence of which will be seen at the Aviva Stadium tonight at the World Cup Qualifier against Sweden.
Bragbet is a Dublin based start up which has received financial and mentoring support from O2 through its Wayra programme that identifies high potential companies in the technology and mobile sectors.
It is based on a social networking model that allows groups of friends or colleagues to establish leagues in which points can be gained for tipping winners across a range of sports and ‘bragging rights’ can be held by a nominated captain who alternates between the league members on a weekly basis.
It monetizes the social experience through providing an easy link through to a betting facility whereby the bank of money held by the team can be grown or depleted by the captain placing bets on what he or she determines to be the most likely outcome.
The company was also backed by Boylesports, who provide the betting facilities and who were in fact the most recent betting partner of the FAI up until last season.
“This is an exciting time for BragBet and for football in Ireland,” said Bragbet CEO Phil Riordan. Our work together will promote the Boys in Green to a growing audience that crosses over between sport as a passion and social media as a form of entertainment.”
“We are really looking forward to announcing a grassroots initiative together in the coming weeks to put money back into clubs throughout Ireland.”
Betting and gaming is one of the primary sources for financial partnership with soccer on a global scale. All the major clubs across the Premier League have betting partners and the trend over recent years has been towards multiple relationships with a split between European, Asian and Stadium betting partners.
At the start of this season Paddy Power signed up as official European betting partner with Arsenal, a position it also holds at Everton and Liverpool.
Dundalk based Boylesports announced its presence on a global stage some years ago via a shirt sponsorship deal with Sunderland and another Irish start up Betbright has signed a number of deals with Aston Villa, Sheffield Wednesday, Wolves and others in the British game.
BWin has adorned the shirts of AC Milan, Real Madrid and is the official partner of Manchester United while established players like Ladbrokes, William Hill and Betfair also have multiple ties with the sport.
There have been instances of concern over match fixing and the potential corrosive influence of betting. The FAI conducted an investigation into allegations involving Longford Town earlier in this year and Sport for Business covered this area in detail at a Round Table meeting at the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport in May.
It appears though that in an international context the broader base of people betting as entertainment has become a financial relationship which the sport cannot turn away from.
Sports Tourism Seminar at Croke Park (September 19th)
Sport for Business 20/20 at Ulster Bank HQ (October 8th)
The Business of Youth Sport Seminar (November 28th)
